Lesson Learnt
by bahj
Summary: When Ben and Adam find themselves at odds, it takes the help of some crawdads, mashed potatoes, and a dragon to bring them back together again. Prequel


It was an impressive sight. At least, it was to Adam Cartwright's two younger brothers. Watching quietly from their hidden position in the hayloft they marveled at their oldest brother's blatant display of anger. Having finished kicking holes into every feed sack in the near vicinity, he was now using the back wall of the barn for target practice.

His brothers flinched as Adam once again sent the pitch fork hurtling towards the wall with an angry grunt. He then stomped over and, grabbing the tool, yanked it out of the wall. He was just about spent, and giving the pitchfork one more halfhearted toss he collapsed onto a soft pile of hay. Lying back in the sweet smelling grass he covered his eyes with his arm.

He could only remember a handful of times in his sixteen-years of life when he had ever been this angry with his father, and he was glad that he wasn't around to see him act out his frustrations. He let out another resentful groan before rolling over onto his stomach. His father's words from that morning kept swirling around his mind and every time he thought about them, he got mad all over again . . .

"Adam, for the last time, and I do mean the last," Ben had said, folding his arms intimidatingly across his chest and giving his son a hard look, "it's too far, you're too inexperienced, and like it or not, too young for me to allow you to go on this trip. And, I don't want to hear another word about it!"

Ben had then turned and headed up the stairs, intentionally not giving his son the chance to say anything more.

Adam had stood seething for a good ten minutes before finally storming out the front door, slamming it shut behind him. He'd winced slightly at the loud noise and waited a moment, half expecting his father to come charging after him. When no one came, he continued his angry stride into the barn, where he had firmly planted himself into the deepest, darkest corner he could find. He was still there brooding a good while later when Ben had come in and quietly saddled his horse. Adam wasn't sure whether his father knew he was there or not until Ben spoke to him.

"Adam, I have to go into to town for a meeting and I need you to keep an eye on your brothers." He then stood with his back turned, waiting.

Adam had thought about refusing to answer for a moment, but then his sense of self preservation kicked in.

"Yes, sir," he replied, letting out a martyrs sigh.

His father nodded as he led his horse out of the barn, and Adam thought for sure he heard him chuckling quietly, which only served to further infuriate him.

"Stay and watch your brothers, Adam," he grumbled, "no you can't go to Sacramento with your friends, Adam. You're too young to go on a trip, but not too young to stay home and play nursemaid."

Without bothering to get up, he called out loudly for his two younger siblings.

"They better not cause me any trouble-" he thought,

"Heaven help them if they do," Ben chuckled out loud as he rode toward Virginia City.

He hadn't been sure whether leaving the boys with Adam was good idea or not, but he'd had little choice as his presence was required in order to close the deal on a new land purchase.

Marie had been staying with some neighbors for the past three days, helping to take care of the new mother and her baby, and wasn't due home until sometime tomorrow afternoon.

He hadn't realized just how much he'd come depend on her until he'd been left alone with his three rambunctious boys. He wondered again how he had ever managed before she came along. Of course, Adam had been a big help in taking care of Hoss back then. He sighed once again as he thought of his oldest son's request.

"Pa, Jake and Will Frauly asked me to go with them," Adam had talked excitedly, "They said they knew how good I was in school and that they would let me handle all the book work, but really, Pa, I think they want my opinion on those horses they're going to buy. After all, I'm the one that told them to buy that bay gelding over in Carson City last summer and . . ."

Ben had let Adam go on for a few more minutes before he'd finally stopped him. He already knew there was no way he would let his soon-to-be sixteen-year-old go on a trip with the two much older Frauly brothers. He knew of their reputation for being somewhat wild and, besides that, the whole trip would take a little over a month, which was just too long for his son to be away from his family.

Ben had tried to be fair by listening calmly and quietly while Adam explain everything out in detail, and then he calmly explained why he would not allow him to go. Adam had not taken well to his reasoning, and had come as close to throwing a tantrum as Ben had seen in many years, which of course, did nothing to improve his case. Adam had even gone so far as to threaten to go without his father's permission. Ben had promptly put an end to that idea with a few choice words to his irate son. Adam had ended up apologizing for his disrespect, but over the next few days he never missed the opportunity to remind Ben just how unfair he found the whole situation.

Everyone had been walking on eggshells around Adam for days, trying hard not to set him off and Ben had had just about enough. As he entered Virginia City and pulled up in front of the land office he decided that when he got home he was going to have a long talk with his firstborn.

"I don't know why that boy has to be so stubborn," he thought to himself.

"I guess I just come by it naturally," Adam mumbled under his breath.

He rolled over onto his back and, looking up toward the hayloft, sighed noisily. He knew his brothers were up there and that they had undoubtedly seen his little tantrum. He also knew that as hot as he was down on the floor that his brothers must really be suffering, up in there hiding spot.

Now that he had exhausted all of his pent up energy he was starting to feel just a bit silly. He didn't like admitting it but he realized that he'd been acting like more of a child in the past few days then his four-year-old youngest brother.

"And you wonder why Pa doesn't think you're mature enough to go on this trip," he thought to himself ruefully.

He stood slowly, stretching out his stiff muscles and rubbed briskly at his arms, trying to work out the soreness. He decided throwing a pitchfork would be a good way to build up some muscle, should he find a need to do such a thing anytime in the near future.

"Okay, you two," he said finally, "I know you're up there."

When there was no answer he took two purposeful strides toward the ladder.

"Are you coming down on your own," he continued, "or do I have to come up and get you?"

That was all it took for two sweaty little heads to pop up out the straw.

"We wasn't meaning to spy on you, Adam," Hoss said as he climbed down.

"Yeah," confirmed Little Joe, "it was a accident."

Adam quickly reached out to help Joe down. After the culprits were safely on the ground he turned to face them, crossing his arms over his chest in an unconscious imitation of his father.

"And just how do you accidently, spy on someone?" he asked. "And Hoss you know that Little Joe isn't supposed to be up in the loft."

Hoss gulped and took a step back before answering. "Well, you see, Adam, I just wanted to show Little Joe the new kittens, and I remembered how you said we shouldn't touch them, so I had to take him up there. I was real careful with him though, honest."

"Yeah," Little Joe said, "real careful, and when you came out you was real mad so we just stayed up there and hid in the straw. Are you gonna tell Pa?"

Adam continued to stare at his brothers, giving nothing away by his expression. It wasn't until Little Joe's lower lip started to tremble as he reached out for Hoss's hand that he finally softened.

"No, I'm not mad," he said, ruffling Joe's hair, "and let's say we make a deal."

"What deal," asked Hoss his eyes shining with excitement.

"I'll forgive you for spying, and I won't tell Pa you were up in the loft if you two don't tell Pa about my . . . um . . . exercising."

"Is that what you was doin', Adam?" Hoss asked, "We thought you was just throwing a fit."

"Well, I admit it might have looked that way from where you two were, but what do you say? Do we have a deal?" he asked, holding out his hand to Hoss.

"'Course," Hoss replied, shaking his brother's hand vigorously.

"Me too," piped in Little Joe.

Adam shook the tiny hand, and then looked around at the mess he had created.

"I'll tell you what," he said, "You two help me get this barn cleaned up, and then I'll take you down to the creek so that we can all get cooled off."

The two young boys eagerly agreed and, while Adam worked to sand or fill in the holes he'd made in the wall, Hoss and Joe dutifully cleaned up the scattered feed. With those tasks behind them, Hoss helped Adam turn the heavy feed sacks around so that the holes weren't showing. Adam hoped that if his father did eventually discover them that it would be the mice that took the blame.

Soon the three boys were headed to the creek with their fishing poles and a basket of goodies from Hop Sing. Once there, Adam tried to concentrate on his brother's laughter and excitement, instead of continuing to brood, but even with his bare feet wiggling freely in the small creek, and resting in the cool shade of a large cedar tree, he couldn't seem to take his mind off his troubles.

"Why don't you trust me, Pa?" he thought to himself.

"It's not that I don't trust him," Ben thought.

He hadn't meant to spend the entire afternoon thinking about his future encounter with his oldest son, but when he'd been forced to wait several hours for the land manager to get back from a previous appointment, his mind had had little else to ponder over.

"Ben, I do so apologize for being late," came the long awaited voice of Mr. Downs, "Please come in right away, I can't begin to excuse the amount of time you've had to wait, but I will try to explain . . ."

Ben listened half-heartedly while the nervous little man went on and on about having to personally oversee the staking off of a new piece of land. It took less time to sign the papers and complete the deal then it had taken for Mr. Downs to explain his story, and by the time Ben left he was more than a little short on patience.

He had long ago paid a young boy to take his horse over to the livery and proceeded in that direction at a brisk pace. He hadn't meant to be gone nearly this long and he hoped that Adam wasn't taking out his frustrations on his two younger brothers.

As he entered the livery he was surprised to find the owner bent over, looking at his horse's hoof.

"Is there a problem, Charlie?" he asked, entering the stall.

"Oh, Mr. Cartwright," he replied, "No, not really a problem. I came in a little while ago and noticed Buck's front shoe there was a little loose, and when I went to fix it I found it had cracked. I'm all out of shoes, so I sent my son over to the blacksmiths to have him make one up for you right quick. Shouldn't be more than about twenty minutes I reckon."

Ben sighed and thanked the man before heading back outside. It was a hot day and he was tempted to go sit down for a bit and order a nice cool drink. He headed in the direction of the saloon, glancing in shop windows as he went by. When he got to the mercantile he noticed the display window was set up with all manner of sweets and candies. He decided that bringing home his boys a treat just might put everybody in a better mood. He was about to enter the shop when he was suddenly knocked aside by two men running from the building. He heard a moan from inside and quickly surmised the situation.

"You two, stop," he said, drawing his gun.

"Don't move one more step!" Adam shouted.

He hadn't even realized he had dozed off until his head had fallen onto his chest, jerking him awake. The first thing he noticed was how quiet it was, and had jumped up looking around frantically for his brothers. He finally spotted two tiny figures a good distance off down the creek. After yanking on his boots he marched over to Hoss and Joe who were happily collecting crawdads and putting them in a jar. They both froze at the sound of their brother's angry voice.

"Just what do you think you're doing?" he demanded, "You two are way past the boundaries I set for you!"

Adam looked around on the ground and picked up a small stick, "Well, what do you have to say for yourselves?"

Little Joe instantly dissolved into tears and Hoss tried in vain to explain what they were doing over the noise of Joe's wailing.

Adam had no intention of actually using the stick on his brothers but, for now, they didn't need to know that. He took Hoss's arm and pulled him far enough away from Joe so that he could hear what he was saying.

"Okay, start again," he said, placing his hands on his hips.

Hoss slowly managed to stutter out that they had been having a crawdad catching contest, and simply hadn't noticed how far they had wandered.

"We're really, really sorry, Adam," he said, never taking his eyes off the stick in his brother's hand.

"As you should be," Adam answered, "there's a reason I set boundaries for you Hoss, there are dangers out there that you don't even know about. If anything had happened to you or Little Joe I wouldn't have been able to hear you yell."

Hoss hung his head at these words and sniffled slightly. Adam sighed and placed a hand on his brother's shoulder. Since, he himself had been guilty of falling asleep he felt inclined to be lenient.

"I'll let it go, Hoss, this time," he said dropping the stick and turning to Little Joe.

He pointed at the ground in front of him and Little Joe came trudging over slowly. The volume of his crying had lessened considerably when he had seen Adam drop the stick. Adam knelt down in front of his little brother and using words the four-year-old could understand, explained to him what he had just finished telling Hoss.

"You both promise me to never do this again," he said looking sternly at his brothers.

Two heads nodded in rapid succession and Adam hoped this was yet another incident that his brothers wouldn't be mentioning to their Pa.

"Hey, Adam," Hoss said a while later as they walked toward home, "what you said to me and Little Joe back there . . ."

"Yes," Adam encouraged.

"that's kind of like what Pa was saying to you the other day, when you asked him if you could go to Srantmenton." Hoss continued.

"It's Sacramento, Hoss," Adam corrected.

"Yeah, Sacramento," he repeated, "Pa told you that there was things about the world you didn't know nothin' about yet and that you would just have to trust his judgment."

Adam cringed as the truth of Hoss's words sank in, but he wasn't yet ready to admit his father might be right. Hoss had inadvertently caused all his feelings of anger to come flooding back and instead of answering his brother; he grabbed Little Joe's hand and marched toward home so quickly, that Little Joe almost stumbled three times along the way.

Adam put Joe down for a nap as soon as they got home, and by the time he came back down the stairs Hoss had fallen asleep on the couch. It had been a busy day and that, combined with the heat, was making him sleepy as well, but he felt too keyed up inside to do any resting. Instead, he went out to the barn and started on his evening chores with a vengeance.

"It's not the same with me as it is with Hoss," he told himself.

"It's exactly the same thing," Ben bellowed.

"Now, Ben," Roy explained patiently, "I can't go charging these boys with assault, at least not on you, when you're the one that tripped down the steps."

"I wouldn't have tripped if they hadn't been trying to escape," Ben said, gently fingering the large bump on the back of his head.

Sheriff Roy Coffee had the two Frauly brothers locked up in a cell facing charges of assault, on the store owner, and attempted robbery. Ben sighed in frustration and roughly grabbed his hat from Roy's desk. He started to leave when Roy called after him.

"I appreciate you bringin' these two in," he chuckled.

Ben stopped and mentally counted to ten before leaving the Sheriff's office. Looking across the street at the mercantile, he stared at the spot where he had humiliated himself a short time ago.

As the two boys had rushed past him he had drawn his gun and ordered them to stop. He started toward them and somehow missed the first step completely, and falling backwards had hit his head against a large barrel of pickles. The jolt had caused his gun to go off which is what had stopped the Frauly brothers. They had both frozen in place, in the middle of the street, and put their hands in the air. Several men rushed to help Ben to his feet, while a few others detained the would-be robbers. Ben, in an attempt to regain some shred of dignity, had demanded to bring the two boys in himself.

He briefly thought about going to see Doc Martin for his headache but there were still too many onlookers in the street, and he didn't want to give them the satisfaction.

Thankfully, Buck was shod when he got to the livery, and he made his way swiftly toward home. He now had something substantial to back his position when he spoke to Adam later, and on the way home he played out in his mind just what he would say.

"Now, do you understand why there are times when I tell you no?" he started the internal conversation.

"It's because of messes like this," Adam reprimanded sharply.

Little Joe had insisted on serving himself at the supper table, and had just finished sending a large spoonful of mashed potatoes flying across the room. He had found the whole incident absolutely hilarious until Hop Sing had come charging in from the kitchen, yelling about having to clean up after naughty boys.

Little Joe slumped down in his seat, and frowned as Adam finished filling his plate.

"Now, eat all of that," he told his sulking brother.

"I'm not hungry," Little Joe pouted.

"I didn't ask if you were hungry," Adam retorted, "I told you to eat."

Joe made no move to pick up his fork and instead, slowly and deliberately, folded his arms across his little chest.

"Joseph," Adam said, keeping his voice calm, "I remember exactly where I left that stick."

Little Joe immediately grabbed his fork and stuffed his mouth full of potatoes. Adam fought to keep back a smile as he winked at Hoss across the table.

"That's funny," Hoss said a few moments later.

"What is?" Adam asked.

"Well, when Little Joe was pouting like that a minute ago, he looked just like you did after Pa told you . . ." Hoss stopped talking when he noticed the glare Adam was directing across the table. Suddenly, he became very interested in his green beans.

The rest of dinner passed without incident and it wasn't until Little Joe started to whine about missing his ma and pa that Adam began to wonder about where his father could be. He knew he needed to find something to distract his youngest brother before he really got worked up, so he asked Hop Sing to heat some water for Hoss and Joe to take a bath.

The two boys played happily for about twenty minutes and then Adam approached with the soap. Little Joe took one look at the soap and placing his hands on his head started whimpering.

"Now, Joe," Adam said calmly, "you be real still while I wash your hair and I'll make some popcorn for you and Hoss to eat while I tell you a bedtime story.

Ben very seldom threatened his sons and he never bribed them, expecting them to obey just because that is what they were supposed to do. Adam however, had no such delusions of grandeur and used one or both methods whenever he felt his brothers needed extra motivation.

Little Joe glanced at Hoss, who promptly gave him a look that said he'd better comply and, sighing pitifully, slowly lowered his hands. Adam managed, for once, to wash his brother's hair without getting any soap in their eyes and after the two boys had thoroughly dried out by the fireplace, he sent them upstairs to get ready for bed.

"Don't forget the popcorn," Hoss called to him as they raced up the stairs.

Adam chuckled softly to himself as he made his way to the kitchen.

"I wonder where Pa's at right now," Adam thought to himself.

"I'm a long way from home," Ben huffed loudly.

After waiting all that time for a shoe, Buck had slipped on a small outcropping of rocks and had started limping soon afterward. Thankfully, he'd been well over halfway home, and he hoped to be back before the boys went to sleep.

"If they're able to fall asleep," he thought worriedly.

He could just picture his three boys waiting anxiously for him to arrive. The night air was getting chilly and he hugged his arms closer to his chest.

"I don't mind telling you, Buck," he said to his lame companion, "I'm pretty cold."

"Phew, it's hot," Adam said, wiping his brow.

He had spent the last ten minutes standing over the fireplace popping popcorn, and he was glad to get away from the heat as he made his way upstairs.

Both boys were tucked snuggly in bed waiting patiently for their snack and story. The fact that they were both in his bed didn't seem to bother Adam at this point. He handed them each a bowl and threatened to dump them both in the horse trough if they got popcorn in his bed. As the two boys munched happily, he pulled up a chair and began his tale.

_Once upon a time, in a land far, far away . . ._

"Adam," Little Joe interrupted, "how come these stories are always far, far away?"

"'Cause nothin' exciting ever happens around here," Hoss snickered.

"Okay, Little Joe," Adam said, shooting Hoss a warning glance, "just for you I'll change this story."

_Once upon a time, just a few miles from here there lived a King and his servant in a big beautiful palace. Well, one day the servant decided it was high time that he be allowed to go on an adventure, to prove himself worthy to be a knight. When the king heard of this idea he called the servant to him, and told him that he was too young and too inexperienced to be allowed to go on such an adventure._

"Hey, Adam," Hoss said, "that's sounds just like you and . . ."

"Hush, Hoss," Adam interrupted, "Now, where was I? Oh yes."

_Well, the servant was not happy about this at all, and in the middle of the night he crept from the palace determined to prove the king wrong. He didn't have to go very far before he reached the entrance to a dragon's cave. _

"Wait," said Little Joe, "there's a dragon in this story?"

"Joe," Hoss answered, "Anytime there's a knight and a castle, you gotta have a dragon."

Little Joe scrunched his face up in thought for a moment. "Adam, maybe you should make this story far, far away," he said, ducking further into the covers.

"Okay, fine," Adam said in exasperation, "the servant, the palace, and the dragon were all very far from here."

"And the king," Little Joe added.

"Yes, and the king," Adam confirmed, "Now, will you please stop interrupting me?"

_The brave servant lit a torch and drew his sword before entering the deep, black cavern._

"I bet the real reason the king didn't want him to go was because he knew it was dangerous and he was just worried about his servant," said Hoss.

Adam sent him a withering glare, and Hoss too ducked further down into the blankets.

_After traveling through long winding tunnels the servant began to feel a rumbling from the ground beneath him. He kept going forward and very soon he could feel the heat coming from the dragon's lair._

Adam stopped for a moment to observe his two brothers, who were sitting close together, wide-eyed in anticipation. He would never have admitted it but he loved telling his younger siblings stories almost more than they enjoyed hearing them. He lowered his voice before continuing on.

_The servant carefully peeked around the corner and saw a giant dragon curled up sound asleep. It had golden scales and huge bat like wings._

_Well, the servant knew that in order to kill a dragon you had to thrust your sword in exactly the right spot. He slowly made his way into the cave, and crept up to the dragon's side. There, just below the dragon's left breastplate was the place where he knew he needed to strike, so he drew up his sword and, just as he was about to slay the beast, it suddenly opened its eyes._

Adam shouted out the last three words causing Little Joe to scream, and Hoss jumped so high that he fell right out of the bed, bumping his elbow hard on the floor.

"Gosh, Adam," said Hoss rubbing his arm, "I hate it when you do that."

"I think it's fun," giggled Little Joe, "do it again."

Adam laughed at his youngest brother and reached out to tussle his hair. Hoss was still a little miffed with him so he offered to go get the boys a refill on their popcorn. By the time he got back Hoss had forgiven him and Little Joe was starting to yawn widely. He decided he'd better wrap his story up pretty quick.

_The dragon saw the knight and sprang up with a mighty roar, she came crashing down upon him, but just in time he rolled under her enormous belly and drove his sword into the beast's heart. It fell dead at his feet and as proof that he was the one to slay the dragon he cut off one of its claws and brought it back to the palace._

"Is that when the king punished him?" Little Joe asked sleepily.

Before Adam could answer Hoss jumped in.

"Why would he punish him for killing the dragon?" Hoss asked.

"'Cause he disobeyed the king," Little Joe retorted, "Pa says when you disobey you always get punished."

Hoss didn't know what to say to this so he turned his questioning, blue eyes on his oldest brother. Adam wasn't quite sure how to respond either, but he didn't want to have to explain to their father why Little Joe suddenly felt it was okay to disobey and go off on adventures without permission.

"Well . . ." he stammered, "The king _was_ very happy that the knight killed the ferocious dragon, _but _he did have to punish the servant for disobeying, so he decided that while he would make the servant a knight, the knight would not be allowed to have a celebration party."

Adam sat back feeling quite pleased with his ending and waited for his brothers to respond.

"Boy was that king mean!" Little Joe exclaimed to Adam's utter amazement.

"But, you're the one that said he should be punished," Hoss said, his own expression mirroring Adams.

"Yeah, but he still could have let him have at least a little party," Joe stated.

"Joe," Adam said, "The king didn't want to have to punish the servant but that's part of being a king. It was his job to teach the servant right from wrong, and that there are consequences to your actions."

Adam knew that Little Joe probably hadn't understood half of what he'd just said, but he hoped the half he did get would stick.

"Adam," Hoss said.

"Yes," he answered.

"Are you still mad at Pa for not lettin' you go to Samracento?" he fumbled.

"Sacramento, Hoss," Adam corrected, "and no I'm not mad anymore. It was wrong for me to be angry with him in the first place and I certainly hope you don't go following my example."

"Gosh, Adam," Hoss replied, "I ain't that dumb."

"Why you little . . ." Adam said as he grabbed a pillow and smacked Hoss in the head.

"Well, I'm certainly glad to know your brother's are in good hands when I'm not around," came Ben's deep voice as he entered the room."

"Pa!" Little Joe and Hoss shouted at the same time, rushing toward their father.

It took a while to get Hoss and Joe into their own beds but eventually they calmed down and fell asleep with happy smiles on their faces. Adam was tired but he wanted to talk to his father before he went to sleep. He slowly made his way down the stairs and found his father sitting near the fire.

"I'm glad you came down, son," Ben said, waving Adam over to him, "I wanted to talk to you about that trip and explain a few things to you."

"Pa," Adam said, "I don't' think you have to say anything more. I've been acting like a spoiled child, and I guess all I've really done is prove to you, and myself, that I'm really not responsible enough yet to go on such a long trip. I'm sorry for the way I've acted."

Adam couldn't bring himself to look at his father so he just stared into the fire. He hated apologizing and his pride felt wounded.

Ben was quiet for a moment, but then reached for his son, and gently turned him towards him.

"Adam," he said, looking him in the eye, "whether you realize it or not, you've just taken a giant step toward manhood."

Adam smiled at his father and for the first time in several days his heart felt light.

"It turns out," Ben continued, "that you wouldn't have been able to make that trip even if I had said yes. I'm afraid those Frauly boys won't be going anywhere for quite a while."

Adam looked at him questioningly.

"I'll explain it to you in the morning," Ben said, pointing toward the stairs, "but right now you look like you're about done in."

As if on cue, Adam gave an enormous yawn, and then laughed as he started up the stairs.

"Oh, and son," Ben called after him, "thank you for taking such good care of your brothers. I'm proud of you."

"You're welcome, Pa," he replied, "good night."

Adam stopped to check on each of his brothers before turning in. Though they were unaware of it, they had taught him some important lessons that day, and what a day it had been. It had started with him feeling no better than a servant to a tyrant king and ended with him being forgiven and accepted as the king's son.

"And that's better than being a knight," he said to himself.

The End


End file.
